I was just bored back in early Nov 2017 and took out my Meteor Gin book in both Japanese and Finnish. Then I came across the little profile on Daisuke's dad. In the Finnish one (easy to read and put in Google translate lol) it's saying just "Daisuke's dad" and "name is not known", but then I look in the Japanese version, and it says "Kousaku/こうさく/浩作"and "name is Kousaku". So this got me wondering. Does he has the name Kousaku, or does the Finnish translator know something?

And its from my 2nd print/reprint of the Meteor Gin in Japanese. While a first print in Japanese it said "Daisuke's dad" only.From my 2nd print

I believe I replied this on the old board too but it seems Kousaku is only ever used in a single panel in volume 2, in a speech bubble that appears to be coming from Daisuke's father and addressed at the random villager beside him.

I believe I replied this on the old board too but it seems Kousaku is only ever used in a single panel in volume 2, in a speech bubble that appears to be coming from Daisuke's father and addressed at the random villager beside him.

"Daisuke! Can you hear me?"
"Should we switch places, Kousaku?"

For me it looks like the speachbubbles are ponting to the other and not to the person right under them. If I was home and knew how to, I would mark what I see ^^;

Interesting they changed his name between prints! Especially if his name is only ever mentioned once in the manga. And I'd assume that the Finnish volumes were translated from first edition manga, so the name had to have been there since the beginning. If it's listed beside Daisuke's dad in the guidebook, I'd say it's pretty safe to assume his name is indeed Kousaku. ^^

I agree with you; it's definitely pointing towards the other guy rather than Daisuke's dad. I think because of the way the picture was drawn, the criss-crossing speechbubbles are done so because of how the manga is read (right to left). It makes sense.

tbh I think it looks like both the speech bubbles are coming from Daisuke's dad. The placement is sort of ambiguous.

If the bubble on the left would be pointed at Daisuke's dad, I think where it's pointed would've been more down and more direct to him

Takahashi's speech bubbles can be weird, they are not even always pointing at the character who's talking - and sometimes even at the wrong character. That's why I wouldn't think too much into how they're placed in this specific panel.

Interesting they changed his name between prints! Especially if his name is only ever mentioned once in the manga. And I'd assume that the Finnish volumes were translated from first edition manga, so the name had to have been there since the beginning. If it's listed beside Daisuke's dad in the guidebook, I'd say it's pretty safe to assume his name is indeed Kousaku. ^^

A Finnish translation Meteor Gin didn't include the name Kousaku but this is what has been written about Daisuke's father:

"Daisuke's father. His name is unknown since Daisuke just calls him father. This man tends to get jealous over his wife's admirable talk about Hidetoshi" - Meteor Gin (directly translated from Finnish)

A Finnish translation Meteor Gin didn't include the name Kousaku but this is what has been written about Daisuke's father:

"Daisuke's father. His name is unknown since Daisuke just calls him father. This man tends to get jealous over his wife's admirable talk about Hidetoshi" - Meteor Gin (directly translated from Finnish)

PS. Every single print of this databook has this text.

My guess is that they translated from a first print. If I remember right when I asked this, one with a first print of Japanese one, this it was it said too. I have a second print of the Japanese one. And I'm more willing to go after the second print

Second print
Mine is the second print: 2000-12-12.
First print is 2000-07-24.

Anyone with a Japanese Meteor Gin, can you check in the back of the manga, and see what print?
And then on page 34 for the profile for Daisuke's dad? If it says "浩作" with the furigana "こうさく" (Kousaku) right beside it (like in link in first post), or simply "大輔の父" (Daisuke's dad).

A Finnish translation Meteor Gin didn't include the name Kousaku but this is what has been written about Daisuke's father:

"Daisuke's father. His name is unknown since Daisuke just calls him father. This man tends to get jealous over his wife's admirable talk about Hidetoshi" - Meteor Gin (directly translated from Finnish)

PS. Every single print of this databook has this text.

My guess is that they translated from a first print. If I remember right when I asked this, one with a first print of Japanese one, this it was it said too. I have a second print of the Japanese one. And I'm more willing to go after the second print

Second print
Mine is the second print: 2000-12-12.
First print is 2000-07-24.

Anyone with a Japanese Meteor Gin, can you check in the back of the manga, and see what print?
And then on page 34 for the profile for Daisuke's dad? If it says "浩作" with the furigana "こうさく" (Kousaku) right beside it (like in link in first post), or simply "大輔の父" (Daisuke's dad).

A Finnish translation Meteor Gin didn't include the name Kousaku but this is what has been written about Daisuke's father:

PS. Every single print of this databook has this text.

My guess is that they translated from a first print. If I remember right when I asked this, one with a first print of Japanese one, this it was it said too. I have a second print of the Japanese one. And I'm more willing to go after the second print

Second print
Mine is the second print: 2000-12-12.
First print is 2000-07-24.

Anyone with a Japanese Meteor Gin, can you check in the back of the manga, and see what print?
And then on page 34 for the profile for Daisuke's dad? If it says "浩作" with the furigana "こうさく" (Kousaku) right beside it (like in link in first post), or simply "大輔の父" (Daisuke's dad).

Mine is the first print, and it says Daisuke's dad with no name.

Thanks ^^

Question is also up on the Ginga Wiki Twitter. So please RT from there as well. ^^
I wanna know from more places. ^^

The Finnish version had three prints of Meteor Gin in total (1st one was an error-print with some major mistakes in Mukonga's page, 2nd was a corrected reprint of it and 3rd print was a reprint of the earlier two because they were sold-out very quickly) and yes indeed, they were almost directly translated from the first Japanese edition. All of them say exactly one thing: the name of Daisuke's father is unknown so it's also quite safe to assume that Kousaku might be a name of his friend and Japanese 2nd print is. in fact, an error-print.

From my experience in the print side of publishing, in this context the second Japanese print is out-right impossible to be an "error" print. That change would have been flagged by the author or publisher before a second print was run. It is not the printers job to change the book transcript, only to print it, therefore it would have had to have gone through official channels for a change to be made.

Changes made to an existing transcript have to go through the original author and be signed off. It's a case of liability - if the printer prints a full run of books, and the publisher/author sees that there was an unauthorised change made, the printers would be in a lot of trouble for tampering with copyrighted work (if there were no changes, the printers would have simply reprinted the original file).

The Finnish print would have had to have been translated from the original print anyway as I think that's just how it works with alternate language publishing(?) (you can't skip editions I think). As the second Japanese print was purposefully altered and corrected, and is in the original language, then that print's information supercedes the Finnish print and therefore Kousaku is the correct name.

To put it simply, the Finnish edition was translated from the original transcript and not the updated one. It is correct in that respect, however not up to date when taking into account the second Japanese edition's correction.

All this does make me think whether there are any other differences between the Japanese 1st and 2nd editions though...

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